Pedal4Lalibela

During this term, for the first time, Concord launched a unique whole-school fundraising challenge — setting up a virtual cycle all the way from the United Kingdom to Ethiopia! Many students and teachers contributed to this meaningful event and eventually we accomplished the 8672 km journey.

Pedal4Lalibela was a whole-school fundraiser to raise money for the Soil of Amhara charity. Despite it being a first for the college, everything went really well.

The challenge was for students and staff to cycle and row a total of 8672km, which is the distance between Concord and Lalibela Primary School in Ethiopia. The initial aim was to raise £2000 to refurbish two classrooms in the school, however, the school managed to raise over £3500! This is enough to refurbish even more facilities and classrooms for the 1900 students at the school.

Over 200 students took part on the journey, and not just the students who were physically on the campus, but also those who are studying remotely. Those students had cycled in their native countries and sent in their distances.

The virtual journey was accomplished through the collective effort of students, staff and the wider Concord community. Everyone had fun cycling, rowing and taking part in this unique fundraising initiative. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this event or donated.

— Outreach team

Macmillan Coffee Morning 2018

On Friday 28th September, at morning break time we took part in the Macmillan Coffee Morning at Concord. This is an annual charity event which supports people with cancer through fundraising, in the form of bake sales. Teresa House are in charge of this event, however, of course, we wouldn’t have raised much money without the support of many fantastic students in other Houses and staff too, who donate countless delicious homemade cakes and cookies for the sale. This year, I made some Macha chocolate (‘Green tea-flavoured chocolate’), hoping it would help to raise some money for the charity.

It was surprising that the number of people who attended the bake sale managed to fill more than half of the Dining Hall! I was helping to sell the homemade cakes and cookies (as well as my chocolate). I felt that break time went in a fraction of time, probably because we were all so busy in dealing with so many ‘customers’. There were still leftovers after break, so we decided to keep selling during lunch, twilight and even at dinner time, in order to make as much profit as possible for the charity.

I helped with sales again after dinner, along with a few Prefects and Mr Arthur. We tried hard to advertise our remaining cupcakes and cookies and as a result, many people who walked past us stopped and got some something. Eventually, there were only 6 cupcakes and some crumbles left! ‘This is the least amount of leftovers we’ve ever had!’ said Mr Arthur. I felt so accomplished and proud that we had managed to sell all these foods we had got for the bake sale; especially since we made most of them. Every year we make over £500 from the Macmillan Coffee Morning to give to a good cause, however this time might even be over £600!

Anna – F5